About Us



The Misinformation, Disinformation & False News in Africa Research Project is led by Dani Madrid-Morales (The University of Sheffield) and Herman Wasserman (University of Cape Town). It compares the spread and reception of "fake news" across the continent, and investigates how it affects journalism.
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Our Projects



We have a series of cross-national comparative projects that use different research methods (surveys, interviews, focus groups, experiments). In addition to academic publications, we also share our findings with the wider public through interviews with the media, and by publishing accessible pieces online.
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Useful Resources



With research on "fake news", disinformation and misinformmation on the rise, there's a lot of excellent resources, studies and databases being made available regularly by scholars, NGOs and media houses worldwide. We keep a list of some these resources, particularly those related to African countries.
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The messenger, the message and the receiver: South African government communication during the Covid-19 pandemic

Herman Wasserman and Dani Madrid-Morales have co-authored a chapter in Manufacturing Government Communication on Covid-19: A Comparative Perspective. Their chapter titled “The messenger, the message and the receiver: South Africa government communication during the Covid-19 pandemic” provides an overview on how communication on the Covid-19 crisis delivered by the...

Book Reviews: Disinformation in the Global South

Recent reviews on Disinformation in the Global South. Centre for Behavioural Analytics and Change “If you are a media and journalism student, an academic across most disciplines, including the health sciences, or someone who works in the fact-checking or disinformation space, this book is highly recommended for you. Not...

Dani Madrid-Morales presents on Recentering Disinformation Studies at City University of London

On the 5th of April Dani Madrid-Morales presented on Re-centering Disinformation Studies at City University of London. Madrid-Morales presented alongside panelists Dr Lindsey Bluebell, Dr Mel Bunce, Dr Zahera Harb and Dr Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar. In addition to discussing the importance of ‘de-westernising’ disinformation studies, Madrid-Morales introduced his new...

BIG READ: Fighting back against the global information disorder

Herman Wasserman writes for Business Live on how the public sphere is being contaminated by rumours, hate and deception. Wasserman notes that we are currently witnessing a global “information disorder”, resulting from the combination of a changing media landscape and a fractious political environment. After two years of the...

Who is Responsible for Stopping the Spread of Misinformation? Examining Audience Perceptions of Responsibilities and Responses in Six Sub-Saharan African Countries

This past week at the International Communication Association conference in Paris, Herman Wasserman and Dani-Madrid Morales discussed their latest paper co-authored alongside Melissa Tully, Gregory Gondwe and Kioko Ireri, Who is Responsible for Stopping the Spread of Misinformation? Examining Audience Perceptions of Responsibilities and Responses in Six Sub-Saharan African...